The authors examine the turbulent properties of a baroclinically unstable oceanic flow using primitive equation (PE) simulations with high resolution (in both horizontal and vertical directions). Resulting dynamics in the surface layers involve large Rossby numbers and significant vortical asymmetries. Furthermore, the ageostrophic divergent motions associated with small-scale surface frontogenesis are shown to significantly alter the nonlinear transfers of kinetic energy and consequently the time evolution of the surface dynamics. Such impact of the ageostrophic motions explains the emergence of the significant cyclone–anticyclone asymmetry and of a strong restratification in the upper layers, which are not allowed by the quasigeostrophic (QG) or surface quasigeostrophic (SQG) theory. However, despite this strong ageostrophic character, some of the main surface properties are surprisingly still close to the surface quasigeostrophic equilibrium. They include a noticeable shallow (≈k−2) velocity spectrum as well as a conspicuous local spectral relationship between surface kinetic energy, sea surface height, and density variance over a large range of scales (from 400 to 4 km). Furthermore, surface velocities can be remarkably diagnosed from only the surface density using SQG relations. This suggests that the validity of some specific SQG relations extends to dynamical regimes with large Rossby numbers. The interior dynamics, on the other hand, strongly differ from the surface dynamics, involving a small Rossby number, a steep (≈k−4) velocity spectrum, and a somewhat steeper density spectrum. The compensation of the surface restratification by a destratification at depth confirms a connection between the surface and the interior induced by the small-scale divergent motions.

Ocean eddies (with a size of 100–300 km), ubiquitous in satellite observations, are known to represent about 80% of the total ocean kinetic energy. Recent studies have pointed out the unexpected role of smaller oceanic structures (with 1–50 km scales) in generating and sustaining these eddies. The interpretation proposed so far invokes the internal instability resulting from the large-scale interaction between upper and interior oceanic layers. Here we show, using a new high-resolution simulation of the realistic North Pacific Ocean, that ocean eddies are instead sustained by a different process that involves small-scale mixed-layer instabilities set up by large-scale atmospheric forcing in winter. This leads to a seasonal evolution of the eddy kinetic energy in a very large part of this ocean, with an amplitude varying by a factor almost equal to 2. Perspectives in terms of the impacts on climate dynamics and future satellite observational systems are briefly discussed.

Low-frequency variability of the Kuroshio Extension (KE) is studied using observations and a multidecadal (1950–2003) hindcast by a high-resolution (0.1°), eddy-resolving, global ocean general circulation model for the Earth Simulator (OFES). In both the OFES hindcast and satellite altimeter observations, low-frequency sea surface height (SSH) variability in the North Pacific is high near the KE front. An empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis indicates that much of the SSH variability in the western North Pacific east of Japan is explained by two modes with meridional structures tightly trapped along the KE front. The first mode represents a southward shift and to a lesser degree, an acceleration of the KE jet associated with the 1976/77 shift in basin-scale winds. The second mode reflects quasi-decadal variations in the intensity of the KE jet. Both the spatial structure and time series of these modes derived from the hindcast are in close agreement with observations. A linear Rossby wave model forced by observed wind successfully reproduces the time series of the leading OFES modes but fails to explain why their meridional structure is concentrated on the KE front and inconsistent with the broadscale wind forcing. Further analysis suggests that KE variability may be decomposed into broad- and frontal-scale components in the meridional direction—the former following the linear Rossby wave solution and the latter closely resembling ocean intrinsic modes derived from an OFES run forced by climatological winds. The following scenario is suggested for low-frequency KE variability: basin-scale wind variability excites broadscale Rossby waves, which propagate westward, triggering intrinsic modes of the KE jet and reorganizing SSH variability in space.

Located at the center of the western North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, the Subtropical Countercurrent (STCC) is not only abundant in mesoscale eddies, but also exhibits prominent submesoscale eddy features. Output from a ° high-resolution OGCM simulation and a gridded satellite altimetry product are analyzed to contrast the seasonal STCC variability in the mesoscale versus submesoscale ranges. Resolving the eddy scales of >150 km, the altimetry product reveals that the STCC eddy kinetic energy and rms vorticity have a seasonal maximum in May and April, respectively, a weak positive vorticity skewness without seasonal dependence, and an inverse (forward) kinetic energy cascade for wavelengths larger (shorter) than 250 km. In contrast, the submesoscale-resolving OGCM simulation detects that the STCC eddy kinetic energy and rms vorticity both appear in March, a large positive vorticity skewness with strong seasonality, and an intense inverse kinetic energy cascade whose short-wave cutoff migrates seasonally between the 35- and 100-km wavelengths. Using a 2.5-layer, reduced-gravity model with an embedded surface density gradient, the authors show that these differences are due to the seasonal evolution of two concurring baroclinic instabilities. Extracting its energy from the surface density gradient, the frontal instability has a growth time scale of O(7) days, a dominant wavelength of O(50) km, and is responsible for the surface-intensified submesoscale eddy signals. The interior baroclinic instability, on the other hand, extracts energy from the vertically sheared STCC system. It has a slow growth time scale of O(40) days, a dominant wavelength of O(250) km, and, together with the kinetic energy cascaded upscale from the submesoscales, determines the mesoscale eddy modulations.